Onamalu

A diasporic former school teacher, Narayana Rao (Rajendra Prasad) longs for the idyllic peace and familiarity of the little village that was his home before he went abroad with his son. After ten monotonous years, however, his nostalgic reflections fail to satisfy him. And so, he escapes from home and sets off to India on his own. What he finds there saddens, shocks, and scandalizes him.

Change is known to break hearts, yes.

And yes, people lived in a much simpler, gentler, greener time than now.

But debutant director Kranthi Madhav's Onamaalu, a film that tries to speak to 3 generations but may find understanding nods from only one, grieves a little too much over the decay of the past. It is a story whose rightful place is only in a Telugu weekly, where it can command the attention of the audiences it is seeking. As a film - one that is being released for commercial audiences and not for the patient and discerning jury of a film festival - it wi....